Anthony Rossi, 92, Tropicana Founder And Industry Leader

Published: January 27, 1993

BRADENTON, Fla., Jan. 26—
Anthony T. Rossi, a leader in the marketing of citrus fruits and drinks and founder of Tropicana Products Inc. died here on Sunday. He was 92.

Mr. Rossi was born in Messina, Sicily, and emigrated to the United States in 1921. The company that he founded in 1947 grew into Tropicana Products, one of the world's largest producers of citrus beverages.

Mr. Rossi operated a grocery store on Long Island during the 1930's, then bought a cafeteria in Bradenton in the 1940's.

He decided to leave the restaurant business and began to buy grapefruit and oranges directly from growers in the area and started Fruit Industries Inc., which was soon supplying the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel with 1,000 gallons of sliced citrus fruit a week.

He was the first to own and operate refrigerated trucks, allowing him to ship perishable fresh citrus products around the country in the 1950's.

He developed a process for freezing undiluted orange juice that helped Tropicana and other companies compete with the producers of frozen concentrate.

He retired as chairman, president and chief operating officer of Tropicana in 1978, the same year that the Beatrice Food Company bought Tropicana's stock for nearly $500 million.

Mr. Rossi then built Bradenton Missionary Village, a retirement community for Christian missionaries. He also founded the Bible Alliance, which records and distributes tape cassettes of the Bible and sermons to blind people and prison inmates.